The untold story of Australia’s reclusive crypto king Russell Wilson who paid himself $538million

• Russell Wilson has paid himself $538m in share dividends
• His cryptocurrency exchange run out of backstreet office
• CoinSpot was fleeced for $37million by UK thieves in 2017
• It boomed during the Covid crypto spike with huge profits

A cryptocurrency trader has earned more than half a billion dollars from his company run out of a backstreet office next to a pilates studio and a masseuse.

Russell Ty Wilson, 42, pocketed $538million over the last two years from dividends paid out by his CoinSpot Bitcoin exchange, company documents revealed.

The company posted back-to-back bumper profits of $292million from $503million of revenue in 2022, a year after raking in even bigger profits of $334million.

The astonishing returns saw the business pay total dividends of $699million over the past couple of years, despite falling victim to a scam that cost it $37million in 2018.

Reclusive Mr Wilson owns 77 per cent of CoinSpot through his company, Casey Block Services, earning him the payday bonanza and a likely spot on Australia’s Rich List.

But despite its huge nine-figure profits, CoinSpot is not based at the top end of town in Melbourne’s CBD alongside glitzy multinational conglomerates.

Instead, its registered HQ is a humble single-storey federation building, shared with Precision Pilates and Kala Body remedial massage therapist, in inner-city Windsor.

And Mr Wilson himself has seemingly shunned ritzy suburbs like Toorak and Brighton to remain in the city’s south-western fringes around Dandenong where he was born.

He owns a modest four-bedroom McMansion in a quiet cul-de-sac in nearby Berwick which he bought with partner Kellie Wilson, 39, in 2014 for $586,500.

Other family members also own a small share in the crypto exchange, with Clinton and Cindy Wilson, 40, sharing a three per cent stake, which earned them almost $21million in dividend payouts.

Co-founder Brendan Halfpenny owns another 10 per cent – worth almost $70million in dividends – as does Melbourne investor Claude Huber. 

CoinSpot accounts say it took in revenue of $171m from transaction fees last year, $287m from crypto ‘trade facilitation’, and $42m from ‘staking rewards income’, reported The Australian

A total dividend of $336.05m was paid for the 2021 financial year, then $282m for 2022 followed by a further $81m dividend declared after June 30 last year. It also paid $143million in corporate tax in 2021 followed by another $125million last year. 

Mr Wilson set up CoinSpot in 2013 as one of the first crypto traders in the country and has grown ever since, but profits soared in the wake of the recent crypto boom.

It survived a targeted hack that exploited a glitch in its system which cost it a staggering $37million until Mr Wilson tracked down the thieves when police refused to help, a UK court was told.

He hired a private eye to trace the crooks to Blackpool in England’s north-east – and then personally confronted them in a shock phone call telling them to give back the millions they’d stolen.

Unemployed James Parker had discovered a flaw in CoinSpot’s system in 2017 that allowed him to sell Bitcoin and them immediately buy it back without losing the original Bitcoin, but still getting the funds from the sale.

Parker, 54, fleeced the system for millions without anyone noticing until he told some pals and their greed – and the huge amounts stolen – finally caught the eye of Mr Wilson.

But UK police didn’t believe Mr Wilson’s tip-off that an unemployed man from Blackpool could be involved in a sophisticated crypto scam in Australia, Preston Crown Court was told.

So Mr Wilson took over the case instead and phoned Parker as he and and his financial advisor were walking through Manchester Airport on their way to spend more of CoinSpot’s cash in Dubai.

Mr Wilson demanded they return the stolen millions – but Parker snapped: ‘F*** off, I’m not a thief’ and hung up.

However data revealed Parker had stolen $159,000 in less than a minute on Christmas Day in 2017, and $3.3million on the night before another spending spree trip to Dubai.

He had siphoned out so much money he was unable to spend it all and would buy luxury cars for random strangers and give away £5000 gift vouchers.

Parker recruited others to help exploit the glitch in CoinSpot’s system and fleeced a total of $37 million in just four months until Mr Wilson tracked them down.

The boss allegedly brokered a deal where the gang would return 436 Bitcoin – worth around $13million – in return for Mr Wilson dropping the matter, Bloomberg reported in May.

But police closed in on the thieves when one of the gang reported her daughter for stealing 15 of her Bitcoins – who then told detectives to probe where her mother had got the cryptocurrency from in the first place. 

Parker died in January 2021 before he could face trial, but the rest of the gang were jailed in January 2023 for a total of 15 years for their role in the scam.

CoinSpot survived the exploit to be one of the biggest crypto players in the country, and became a shirt sponsor of AFL club Western Bulldogs in 2021, recently extending the deal for another three years.

The company boasts more than 2.5million customers and trades in 400 different types of cryptocurrency which it claims is more than any other exchange. 

It more than doubled in size during Covid when home crypto-trading exploded during the global lockdowns and now employs more than 200 staff.

The rise in the company’s fortunes were matched by the price of Bitcoin which saw a huge spike, peaking at almost US$88,000 in November 2021 

Bitcoin has since fallen back to around US$44,00 on Monday, but that’s still 10 times its value in December 2018 which has helped fuel CoinSpot’s profits.

Despite his riches though, the mysterious Mr Wilson keeps a very low profile, with the only picture in public circulation of him sourced from his company blog which dried up in 2016.

The former IT consultant – who previously also owned a firm called Consolejazz – has shunned the spotlight despite the success of his company and the huge wealth it has brought him.

Even when the Bulldogs deal was inked, Mr Wilson sent one his executives Tim Wilks in his place to announce the deal rather than pose for cameras himself.

But he was quoted as saying: ‘Seeing the CoinSpot brand on the back of the jumpers is an awesome feeling for us and the cryptocurrency space as a whole.

‘Much like the Western Bulldogs’ recent ongoing success, CoinSpot is continuing to kick goals and has big plans for the future.’

In 2017 he took to tech forum Whirlpool to discuss how he set up the company and why he insisted on strict security protocols for customers, which included them sending photographs of themselves holding a copy of their signature.

He revealed how the company had suddenly accelerated that year, leading to a reshuffle of how it was run.  

‘I started CoinSpot in December 2013 using my existing ABN (which I had from IT consulting work) and ran CoinSpot as a sole trader,’ he posted in 2017.

‘Things have changed pretty quickly in the last six months, we have built up a team of full time people working verifications, support and business relations. 

‘We are also excited to announce we are finalising the new company structure in the coming weeks to own and operate the CoinSpot platform starting in the beginning of the new financial year.’

He added: ‘ I would also like to mention that our strong security and verification process is in place to protect our customers and their assets. 

‘The strong verification process is what allows the high limits for CoinSpot customers and enables the stable operation of the CoinSpot platform.’

Daily Mail Australia has contacted CoinSpot for comment.